Romance, tragic back stories, and overpowered characters in fantasy and science fiction

So, over the weekend in one of the groups I'm part of on Facebook someone posted the blurb they wrote for their fantasy novel. It was an interesting blurb and made me want to read the book. The very first comment made on the post irritated me though. The person who commented said that she found the concept interesting but she “thought there would be a romantic interest for the MC”. I didn't follow the thread so I don't know what the end result of that comment was, but it brought up a point that made me think.

I write fantasy and sci fi. Yes, I do often put romantic points in my stories. But there are some that I've written/am planning on writing that don't have romantic ties. They have deep friendships, but nothing that lands them in bed with each other or mooncalfing over each other like lovesick teenagers.

One of my current projects, my cyberpunk story I've given a temporary title of Hackers, has three main characters – two male, one female. Guess what? None of them end up in a romantic relationship with each other. In fact, none of them have romantic relationships with anyone. It's not necessary for the story.

I see this most often when dealing with strong female characters. So many authors think they need some kind of partner - male or female - to make them better. A lot of the time these strong female characters end up blubbering idiots around their significant others and are forced eventually to rely on their romantic partners to save them.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be romantic interests in the story. What I'm saying is if they aren't integral to the story line, leave them out. Also, take a chance and plot around them to see if they can be replaced by other relationships. If they can, give that a try. You might be surprised by how interesting those stories become when you're not putting romance in them.

Speaking of relationships, let's talk for a moment about the family situations of characters in the fantasy and sci fi genres. Specifically the fact that many authors seem to think that the best characters come from backgrounds with some kind of tragedy in them. The death of a parent (or both parents), abuse at the hands of someone (a family member or a spouse), being the target of bullies, being loners because they're too strange to make friends, etc. I see a lot of these things in both fantasy and sci fi.

I've read some interesting stories recently where the characters had perfectly healthy personal lives, albeit with some unusual circumstances they were dealing with. They had parents they could talk to, sometimes siblings that were around to provide support, and in some cases spouses and children who gave a sense of normalcy in the chaos that was their lives. Sure, these relationships also offered some good points of tension when a family member or friends were threatened. But that's part of what made the stories so interesting. There was a very real sense of urgency in these scenes because of the kind of decisions that had to be made.

Tragic pasts can lead to characters making stupid mistakes, trusting the wrong people, and create more problems for the protagonists as they go along in the story. Then again, so can having healthy and normal relationships with family and friends. People don't need bad things happening to them to make mistakes. I've made plenty in my life without needing any kind of help.

Now, don't get me wrong. I write tragic backgrounds too. I think it's something every fantasy or sci fi author plays with at some point in their career. I'm looking for ways to get beyond that, to provide interesting characterization without relying on tragedy. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Sometimes, to explain something that's integral to the story, you need a little pain in the past (or present). But it doesn't need to be the only thing you use.

I think the trend in fantasy and sci fi – which is thankfully fading – is making characters seem larger than life by making them less than “human”. And I don't mean the characters that aren't human beings in this. Even aliens and elves can be made sympathetic by giving them traits that we can identify with. But I've seen a lot of books where the poor protagonist is given so much to deal with that they're overwhelmed. But they're not allowed to be overwhelmed. They're given outs like special powers that suddenly appear with no other reason than they're necessary to get out of a situation. Or some kind of guardian angel (or something of a similar nature) appears to rescue them because it's hopeless and they're never going to be able to get out of it on their own. Or...or...or… I could go on with examples.

What I look for when I'm choosing a fantasy or sci fi book is real people. Characters that I can connect to on a personal level. I want to believe these people are real. I want to care about who they are and what their lives are like. I want to imagine what their life will be like when the book/series is over. I've put books down halfway through because I stopped caring about the protagonists. I've stopped reading several series because things got too over the top with special powers and allies popping up where there shouldn't be any just because the author didn't want to go to the trouble of letting their protagonists find solutions on their own.

That's not to say that if a character gets into a situation they can't handle that there can't be someone to help. But try to keep the random encounters for that to a minimum. There are probably a plethora of people around that could prove to be useful. Use them instead of inserting someone new for every problem.

Tropes are there because people love them. I get this. But people are beginning to want to wander away from the usual suspects. If they're there, they want something fresh and exciting. So readers and writers need to try expanding their horizons and venturing down a path that's new to them. And yes, I do include myself in this need to expand horizons too.

Why I haven't done any book reviews lately

You may have noticed you don't see many book reviews on my blog any more though I used to do them with some regularity. The problem is I've become so critical of what I see as flaws in the beginning of the book, I won't finish it. I've picked up a dozen new books over the last few months and had to put them down again because I just couldn't find the hook to get me into the story.

One thing that's an automatic fail for me is not being able to keep a character description the same. If you can't remember what your character looked like from the first chapter you described her in to the sixth chapter of the book, how do I know that you're going to be able to keep the rest of your details straight? Not to mention this particular author (no I'm not saying who) was talking about the same place she started out at but ended up describing it in two different ways which were totally opposite of each other.

Another book I read, I managed to get all the way to the end, but it's not one I'm going to read again. In this one, the character knew everything he needed to know, could hack without getting caught, could memorize things months in advance and not forget them even though he's had no use for the information until the point he needs it. He always carries just what he needs, even if there's no plausible reason he'd have it. The story was good, but there were so many problems with this that I put it down several times before I finally finished it.

Some books I'll get through them halfway before I realize I don't care what happens to the characters. If you've managed to lose me at that point, I'm not likely to pick your book back up. Or get other books in the series. I'm sorry, but if you can't keep my interest in the characters I'm not going to waste my time. The same thing goes for plot. If the plot is either too simple and I've guessed at the ending within the first five chapters, or so confusing I have no idea what's going on and have to go back to previously read chapters to figure it out (*cough GRRM cough*), I'm probably not going to finish it.

That doesn't mean I haven't read some good books. The problem is they're all old favorites that I know I like. Though one series I didn't realize how badly the author screwed up her own timeline so I ended up returning those to the library without finishing the trilogy. I liked the characters, but when they refer to events that they couldn't have been around for or were supposedly much earlier than they were even alive, it gets difficult to get past that.

I have over 200 books on my TBR list, most of which I read on my phone or computer (Kindle app FTW). If I can't stay interested in a book, I'm not going to keep reading. I've got too many to go through. I also spend time picking up free books on Amazon. I do read the sample before I get them, but just because the beginning is good doesn't mean it's going to be good all the way through. I've put down quite a number of books from there because of that.

Are there things when you read a book that you absolutely can't ignore? What are some things that get you to put a book down and not return to it? Or are you one of those who finishes a book no matter how awful you might think it is?

Reading history for fun

I love history. I've loved it since I was a kid. My favorite time periods are Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the Dark Ages, Medieval, and Renaissance Europe. Get up past the Industrial Revolution and that's where I start to lose interest. It's not that it isn't interesting. And U.S. History is something I should take some time to study. I just prefer the older time periods.

I'm researching something now that I've never looked at before: the Persian Empire. The one that spanned a good chunk of the Middle East, Egypt, and into Europe. It was one of the largest Empires that ever existed, holding sway over around 50 million people at its height. It began to weaken and then fell when Alexander the Great came in but it was the first of its kind.

I'm doing this research as part of my world building for my books, but even if I weren't reading it for that I'd still be reading it. Himself suggested it and it got me hooked from the start. I'm wanting to go to the library as well as reading online and see if I can find historical books that talk about the Persian Empire. I want to know more than I'm finding online.

This is what I do. I find something that catches my attention and I research it, whether I plan on using it in a story or not. I checked out a book recently about Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth I's grandmother. I wasn't researching anything. It was to satisfy my own curiosity about the woman. I've deviated from my chosen period of history in the past as well, digging into the days of the pioneers and learning what life was like for them. Living around parts of the Oregon Trail, and even being able to take a day trip into Oregon to see the big Oregon Trail museum helps.

I pursue these things because I love history. Himself loves coding and hunts down what he can as information on that. I've seen him spend hours on projects where he's hunched over his keyboard doing things that are complete mysteries to me. He's told me what he's doing and I still don't understand it. But it is one of his favorite things and what he wants to learn about.

What's one thing you like learning about? What do you spend your time reading about?

Reading YA and younger books

I've been reading a lot of books lately, many of them adult grade fantasy dealing with adult situations. They're fun and I love them, but I found myself looking for a simple read that had nothing to do with angsty teens and hardcore fantasy. So I went to the library and perused the juvenile books. These are books that are a little lower level than YA books. I found two of my favorite books from when I was a child: Anne of Green Gables and Little House in the Big Woods. I decided I was going to reread both series. I checked out the first three books in Anne's story but Little House on the Prairie wasn't there so I just got the first book.

These books bring me good memories. I had a much simpler view of life at the time I first read these, even though things were not very good in my life. They gave me a chance to escape into a world of the past that I didn't have any concept of.

Both of these authors drew on their own life experiences, and those of people around them, to spin these worlds. I haven't started them yet because I want to finish the last two books in the series I'm reading now. Then I'm going to immerse myself in a simpler world.

You've probably all seen the article linked here. It's been all over Facebook and Twitter. I wholeheartedly disagree with the author of this article. YA books aren't just for teens. They can provide a release, a quick read when you're looking for something that isn't as intense as an adult book. Though I'll admit that some of the YA books I've read recently can give adult books a run for their money in conflict.

I always tell people to read what they enjoy. I also say if a teen wants to read, let them. Let them read what they want. If they have questions, answer them. There's nothing wrong with reading something that makes you think. Some adults I know read the Hunger Games series and found themselves asking questions about how the world could get that way.

Do you read YA? Or sometimes books for a younger crowd? What do you read when you need a break?

Hobbies

How many of you love to cook? I do. I'm better with baking than cooking, but I'm learning how to make decent meals with limited ingredients. I have fun experimenting. Sometimes they turn out great. Other times...not so much. The most recent ones were a balsamic chicken dish that turned out reasonably good and a pot of black beans that turned out nasty. The beans didn't get eaten for leftovers while the balsamic chicken stuff did.

Sunday night, I attempted chicken quesadillas. They were food, and I thought they turned out okay. Yes it was another experiment because I had to figure out how to season the chicken and get it into the quesadillas evenly. It was fun though.

Cooking is only one of my passions. I love reading and writing. I like taking walks, though this is new. I enjoy knitting and crocheting, though I will have to rebuild my stock of yarn and needles/hooks since I abandoned all of it when we moved this last time. I'm fascinated by history and do a lot of research on it.

Hobbies are great. They help you relax, unwind, and take you away from the stress of your every day life and into a world of comfort. They can take intense concentration, they can be physically demanding, but they still have worth because they are something that you enjoy.

I love my hobbies. I have an easier time with reading, writing, and cooking – though I don't get too much baking done these days – than I do with the others. But I take time every day to do what I enjoy. It makes me happier and helps me get out of my depression and makes me feel better.

What about you? What are some of your hobbies?

Random thoughts on a rainy Monday

This post is coming in a bit late, but I had a long day yesterday and didn't get a chance to get this written beforehand. I apologize if you're a faithful reader of my blog. If you've wandered in here by accident or by following a link someone shared, please understand I'm not usually this forgetful.

I could post a political rant. There's enough in the news these days to rant about, that's for sure. The government shut down here in the US, the Affordable Care Act (and boy, could I rant about that), all of the violence in Syria, possible talks between the US and Iran. As I said, there's been a lot I could rant about, or at least hold some kind of discourse on.

But I'm not going to. I don't see the point. People have far more eloquently addressed these situations then I ever could. I'm just going to say our Senators and Representatives are morons, the ACA is a good idea in some regards and a bad idea in others, Syria needs help without us getting physically involved in the conflict, and I'm all for more open conversations with countries in the Middle East if it means fewer conflicts.

Instead, what I want to talk to you about is reading. How often do you read? If you're like me, and I hope you are, you read a lot. I try to read at least one book a week. Sometimes it takes me longer if they're longer books or I don't have as much time to read as I'd like. For instance, I'm not even halfway through A Clash of Kings yet. But I also tend to read more than one book at a time, so I'm always in the process of finishing at least one book up if not multiple books.

Reading avidly is a hallmark of a great writer. You need to know what's out there before you can write it. Now I will admit, I don't read a lot of what hits the bookstore shelves. For me, it's all about the free books at Amazon. But I do go to the library and search for new books to see if they're there. Especially if they're interesting to me. That reminds me, I haven't been in a while. I think I'll have to go scope out the bookstore and then take a list to the library to see if they're there or if they can order them from another library for me.

Read, and read widely. Don't just read your genre. Read nonfiction, read other genres, read tech manuals if you are so inclined. Just read a lot. It'll help you. It really will.

Thursday Thoughts - The importance of reading to an author

Authors write books. That's pretty obvious. What isn't so obvious is that we writers should also be reading books. Not just books in our genre, but books outside our area of expertise. Anything and everything we can get our hands on we should be reading.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm a picky reader. I tend to stick to my genres, even going so far as to stick mostly to fantasy since that's what I write. I have a hard time picking up anything else because I don't like taking risks. But I've started reading a friend's BDSM erotica series (and it's awesome...her first book is already out and I'm the beta reader for all of the rest of them). I've read a few non-fiction books lately too. I'm listening to an audio book I got through Audible that's science fiction from one of my favorite authors.

But I'm also trying to work my way through the Song of Ice and Fire series. I've reread a bunch of Tamora Pierce's books. I'm reading a bunch of free fantasy books I've downloaded from Amazon.

I've also gotten a couple of paranormal/urban fantasy books from a friend. I'm reading those. I'm rereading 1662 and 1663, which I suppose are science fantasy because what happens to them is explained using science but it's still fantasy to me.

I'm not saying that we should go out and buy every book on the shelf. I'm just saying if you're a writer, you need to broaden your horizons. I know I do. I need to be more open to other books and other genres. Every book you read is a learning experience. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or encyclopedia. Open your eyes and your mind and read.

Writing Wednesday - Stop fighting about print books and e-books

This was shared by Joelle Casteel on Facebook on Tuesday. She shared it from Elizabeth Marx's page. I shared this as well once I realized that yes, I agreed with this. A book is a book no matter what form it's in. I'll read anything that's given to me in the genres I prefer, and even sometimes outside of my preferred genres.

Books were my best friends when I was growing up. The stories I read inspired me to write my own. I loved telling stories and would tell my little sister stories. I would tell children I babysat stories. Stories were my escape. I read them, I wrote them, I told them. They became my life.

Then I grew up and got a grown up job and had a grown up life. But I still read. I still loved a good story. I preferred reading to being with friends most of the time. So when I had free time, I'd read a lot of it. Don't get me wrong. I did grown up things and went out and had fun with friends too. But most of the time you would find me with a book in my hands.

Now, it's different. I no longer have a regular job. I get to pursue my writing full time. I'm working towards getting paid to tell my stories. But I still read. I don't have money to buy many books but I can and do download them for free off of Amazon. I've discovered some new writers that way whose books, when I have money to purchase things, will be among the first ones I get because I'm interested in seeing how things are going to play out with their characters.

I used to be one of those who favored printed books over e-books. Now I don't care what form it's in. If it's a good story and I can read it, let me read it. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other. I think it's all a matter of convenience and preference.

How books changed my life

Books. Books changed my life. Books were what gave me my peace and my freedom.

Let me explain what I mean.

I was a very withdrawn child. I didn't enjoy playing with the neighbor kids. Frankly, they terrified me. Part of it was their habit of terrorizing the other kids in the neighborhood (never me or my siblings though...I think they were scared of my mom). Part of it was even at that very young age I was an introvert with social anxiety. In an adult this is bad enough, but as a child this was terrifying.

When I was 3, actually a few months shy of my rather memorable 4th birthday (I'll share that memory one day as it's one of my clearest pleasant memories of my childhood), I remember going up to my dad and asking him "What does this word say?" I was holding the advertisements for our local grocery store. He told me what it was and then I pointed to the picture and said "That word means this."

A whole new world was opened up to me. I started grabbing the ads out of every paper. When we went to the grocery store I would look at the signs and make sure that they matched up with what was beneath them. I was learning to read.

On my 4th birthday, I was given the greatest treasure of all: books. I didn't know how to read them yet but I was determined to do so. At first I just made up stories to go along with the pictures. But my dad sat down with me every night and pointed to the words on the page and read them to me so I understood the sounds and the marks on the page correlated with one another. Soon I was reading my books by myself.

But it wasn't enough. I wanted more.

More books came my way, inherited from when my next oldest sibling was still learning to read. I devoured them. By the time I was 5 - just one short year later - my dad tells me I'd read every child's book appropriate for my age in the house at least a dozen times. I didn't always understand the books but I'd read them.

Kindergarten came and we were taught to write our names. I thought this was a little silly because I already knew how to write my name. I could read words. I wanted to know more. I'd actually skip recess and sit in the classroom and read the books the teacher gave me. My teacher was awesome. She connected very early on that to force me to socialize was to send me into a tailspin of anxiety that made me sick. I socialized while we were together in the classroom, but when it came to recess, she let me sit and read. She gave me books for the 1st graders and let me read those. They were a little better, but I still wanted more.

Then I left kindergarten and I no longer had the ability to read during recess. So I read at every other possible moment. I was doing my assignments as fast as possible to be given the time to read before it was time to move onto a different lesson. I used to get my books taken away from me because I wanted to read rather than pay attention to my teachers.

This went on for a time, where I read every book that was recommended for my grade level and maybe a few books for the more advanced grade levels - though my teachers discouraged that saying I wouldn't understand them. Meanwhile at home my mother was using vocabulary lists to push my reading comprehension to a higher level. By third grade I understood and could put into context words from a sixth grade vocabulary list.

Then I got Mr. Murphy for fourth grade. On the first day, he threw the reading list into the trash and said that as long as we did our assignments in a timely manner and weren't so rude as to read while he was talking, he didn't care what we read. I jumped on this. I read every book in his classroom, and not all of them were at the fourth grade reading level. He even had some high school level books in there that were just begging to be read.

In fifth grade, Mrs. Johnson introduced us to the Hobbit. I read all of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings on my own in the space of a month. They were interesting but it still wasn't enough. At least when I was reading, though, my parents left me alone so I read a lot.

Then, the summer before my sixth grade year, I got my hands on Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey. That was it. I was gone. I was an immediate fan. For those of you who don't know, Anne McCaffrey was the brilliant author who wrote the books detailing the lives of the dragonriders of Pern. Ms. McCaffrey died before I could thank her for the wonderful gift she gave me. But she wasn't the only author to open my eyes to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, I could write books too.

Then came the Andre Norton books. I read a few of the Witch World books and then I moved on into others. I read the Rowan books by Ms. McCaffrey. Though I didn't understand some of the themes I knew they were good stories. My parents owned every book written by both of these authors that were available at the time (this was in 1989). I also discovered the books of Tamora Pierce at this time. I suddenly had three female authors who I adored (and possibly worshiped in a sense at that time) and who were successful writers. Most of the books I can remember reading as a young child were written by men so I didn't realize until that point that a woman could write books and be successful too.

It wasn't until I was in 8th grade that I started actually writing down some of the stories that floated in my head. I patterned them after the three women who were so heavily influencing me and came up with my very first fan fic crossover mash up. It was...horrible. But at least I was writing. I haven't stopped writing for any serious length of time since, though I've had a few dry spells over the last 23 years.

If you have never read a book by any of these women, I suggest you go to your library or to Amazon or SOMEWHERE and get their books. I can happily recommend the Alanna (Song of the Lioness Quartet) and the Daine (Wild Magic Quartet) books by Tamora Pierce. I haven't had the opportunity to read any of her other books, though my niece swears by the Keladry (Protector of the Small) books. If you want to read Anne McCaffrey you can either read Dragonflight which is the first Dragonriders of Pern book she wrote, or you can read Dragonsdawn which is a later book but actually the events predate Dragonflight as you discover the origin of the dragons. Andre Norton...just pick one. I can't recommend any specific book, though her Witch World are my favorites.

Without reading in general, my childhood would have been a lot harder than it was. I wouldn't have had my escape. Without these three women, I may never have first set pencil to paper and crafted my own words. I hope one day to meet Ms. Pierce as sadly my other two idols have passed on. I want to thank her for her gift with words and her inspiration to me.

Sunday 'fess up...Anni's a little dizzy

Okay, not a LITTLE dizzy.  I'm A LOT dizzy.  We're talking out blacking out because of the dizziness type of dizzy.  Luckily I haven't blacked out since Tuesday, but I did that rather spectacularly in the women's restroom at work after having done it for about 10 minutes at my desk.  People around me thought I'd just dozed off at my desk, which I do have a tendency to do.  But I wasn't asleep.  I'd passed out.  Yeah, my co-workers aren't the brightest crayons in the box.

I'm off work until we either stop this completely or at least come up with a viable treatment plan for this.  Motion sickness pills only help a little.  And that's what I was told to take.  I was also told to take Valium but I won't take that unless I absolutely have to.  It knocks me out and makes me even loopier than normal.  It's designed to make me not care about anything and to sleep it off.

Sitting up to write is difficult, so I've taken to curling up on the bed and writing from a mostly lying down position.  This presents a few challenges - not the least of which is a laptop that falls over if I've got it on my legs.  But it works and I can write somewhat comfortably while I wait for the dizziness to pass.

I haven't gotten much done this week, but I have gotten a few things done.  I got the second chapter of The Fallen up on WordPress.  I'll make sure the links to that and my other story from Monday are at the end of this.  I've also finally figured out how to work with Cracked World so now I'm making progress on it again.  Slow but there's progress.  I keep wanting to crack Only A Name but I've made myself wait.  It needs a little longer to simmer before I go attack it again.

For Earth Hour, I turned off my bedroom light and tried to write by candlelight.  I don't know if that kicked the Muses into high gear or what but Cracked World suddenly started cooperating.  I may have to do the "writing by candlelight" thing again.

Picked up Fiction Writer's Workshop on Saturday.  I'm going to use some of the exercises for Writing Wednesday posts.  I'm not going to copy all the exercises in the book but I will use those ones that I find particularly useful.

I did do some reading and found out something interesting: statistically speaking, fantasy short stories are a lot harder to sell than science fiction short stories.  I found that bit of news very interesting and wonder how true it is.  I certainly haven't had much luck on selling my short stories.  Of course, I haven't submitted any of them within the last month.  I got tired of finding rejection letters in my email and my snail mail.

Posted the usual stories for Monday and Friday.  Links are here as always.  If you do go read them, please leave me a comment.  Even if it's just to say "Hi I've been here".  It'll make it so I want to continue posting.

The Soldier and the Boy
The Fallen - Ch 2

Vlog is done, as always.  I babble a bit about various things including this past week and my upcoming birthday. It's in May, and Himself and I had a long talk about what I wanted.  It's all very simple and I mention it in the vlog.  If you're that curious, you'll just have to watch the vlog to find out.

Sunday 'fess up...Anni won an award!

First of all, many thanks to Deirdre for my blog's first award.  *blushes*  I appreciate your visit and I'm honored you thought I deserved the award.

Second......can we just not talk about writing this week?  Please?  *looks around*  Oh all right.  I'll admit it.  I failed miserably at the writing this week.  I got some reading done though, and I figured out a few twists for Cracked World.  But all of the edits on Only A Name kind of burned me out on writing.  I'm feeling a lot better now so I expect I'll be able to tackle Cracked World more this week.

It's pretty much guaranteed we're not going to Texas.  Unexpected car repairs (brakes went out) and medical bills as well as me having to cancel my overtime this week (got sick) have forced us to take a major hit in our finances again.  But we're still going to take a mini vacation in April.  Even if it's just hanging out in a hotel/motel in town & avoiding everyone we know for a day or two...we're going to get our vacation.

Did a little beta reading for KD Sarge this week.  I'm not very good at it but I hope that I at least helped out a little.  I read a new book this week and I enjoyed it but, well, I'm reserving judgment on the rest of the series because of how disappointing I've been finding the UF books I've read lately.  I'll get a review of the book up on Books in the Woods here in the next week or so.

Vlog is live, as always.  I actually finished it last night.  It was kind of nice to be able to sleep in today and not have to worry about getting that done.

Story links from this week's Magic Monday and Freak Friday:

The Rescue
The Fallen Ch 1

Now for the vlog and a few other videos for your entertainment.

Please pardon my absence

I know it's been a while since I posted here.  I've been sick, finally got off my LOA and back to work, and mostly been offline because I've had stuff to do.  I'm not even really working on NaNoWriMo much right now because of everything going on.  I hope to remedy my rather deplorable word count soon.

I've been reading a lot and will have a few books to add to the book blog.  I'm not going to add Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre, or Little Women because I mostly read those to remind myself of how awesome the stories are.  However, I must also add reading Little Women depressed me a little because of certain circumstances in my life but that's neither here nor there.

On the good news side of things, I've been able to reconnect to one of my oldest friends.  We sort of fell apart after I got married and have had minimal contact with each other.  We recently started emailing and chatting on AIM more and now we've discovered that we're two completely different women than we used to be.  We actually like each other again and are looking forward to when we get to see each other again, though it'll be a while for that.  She lives about 3 hours away from me now.

Things are going to be very tight financially since I found out most of the two weeks I spent on my LOA is unpaid, so if I can't pay the internet I might drop offline again for a couple weeks until I can get it paid.  Other than that, life is simply plodding on as it usually does.